Zombie Cillian Murphy

About

Zombie Cillian Murphy refers to a viral image from the trailer of the 2025 zombie horror movie 28 Years Later, which shows a zombie rising up in a field of yellow flowers that looks similar to Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who starred in the first film of the horror franchise 28 Days Later that was released in 2002. The Zombie Cillian Murphy meme quickly became a viral reaction image and image caption format on X / Twitter after the teaser's release in mid-December 2024, often used to express a netizen's state of mind or physical exhaustion towards a topic being debated online.

Origin

On December 10th, 2024, the trailer for the upcoming 28 Years Later film was released,^[1] which includes a scene showing a skinny zombie in a field of flowers that many perceived as a cameo of Cillian Murphy's character from the original film two decades earlier. The trailer garnered more than 5.6 million views and 59,000 likes in a few hours.

On the same day, the X^[2] page @SolaceCinema uploaded the still image from the 28 Years Later trailer showing a skinny zombie in a field of flowers, writing, "First look at Cillian Murphy in ‘28 YEARS LATER.’" The tweet (seen below) amassed over 409,000 views and 3,100 likes in a few hours.

Spread

Following the trailer's release in mid-December 2024, interest in the possibility of Cillian Murphy's character returning as a zombie rapidly spread across social media platforms as people reacted to it and began using it in various memes or jokes.

For instance, on December 10th, 2024, X^[3] user @b4b3ss replied to the Zombie Cillian Murphy tweet (seen below), writing "twinks when they turn 25." The post received roughly 348,000 views and 11,000 likes in a few hours.

Also on December 10th, X^[4] user @slade_tex posted the Zombie Cillian Murphy meme as a reaction to someone comparing pictures with Luigi Mangione, the suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter. The post (seen below) amassed over 13,000 views and 500 likes in a few hours.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References